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SAN ANTONIO — When Tim Duncan won his first NBA Finals MVP trophy, Kawhi Leonard, who is now the reigning Finals MVP, was 7 years old. No doubt he saw Duncan, emblazoned images in his brain and vowed to be just like him.

“I really don’t remember. I don’t think I watched the Finals when I was 7 years old,” said Leonard who took the honor which was strongly influenced by his last three games: 71 points, 28 rebounds, including 22 points and 10 rebounds Sunday in the Spurs title-clinching 104-87 romp over the Heat. “Probably just busy playing kid games, running around.”

Well, there goes that angle. Still, Leonard is a virtual Tim Duncan Jr. He does everything on the court and does it well.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Duncan said. “He came in after a lockout … worked hard [and] I can say that I saw the player that I saw tonight at that point.”

But the world saw him Sunday. He is the future of the franchise that is considered the model for others to emulate. He is all of 22 years old.

“Kawhi’s a really quiet young man. But he listens and he’s a great learner and super competitive, has a drive to be the best that’s really uncommon in our league,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He walks the walk. He is there early. He’s there late. He wants more. He wants me and the coaches to push him.”

And they have. All the way to a Finals MVP.

“We pretty much had the same team last year. We knew where we got to, and there was no choice but to accept our role, and we did. We worked out our role every day throughout the 82-‑game season, and here we are,” Leonard said.

And they have. All the way to a Finals MVP.

Throughout the first four games of the NBA Finals, Mario Chalmers, a starter on two Heat title teams, admitted he was struggling both with play and with confidence. But the Heat maintained every faith in him.

Until Game 5.

Chalmers was benched for Game 5 as the Heat started Ray Allen alongside Dwyane Wade in the backcourt. With Chalmers headed for free agency, Sunday conceivably could have been his last game with Miami. That prospect was presented to him earlier.

“I don’t think about that at all,” said Chalmers (8 points), who didn’t enter until 5:01 of the third.

The Heat’s 29-22 first quarter represented the first time in five games they led after the first. In the four previous games, the Spurs had outscored the Heat, 119-81 in first quarters.

The Spurs were 21-6 this season, including playoffs, when Boris Diaw was in the starting lineup. … Duncan has started on a championship team in three different decades. … The Spurs’ four victories came by a total of 73 points, none by fewer than 15 points. … The Spurs outscored the Heat by 70 in the series, the largest Finals margin ever.

It became hardly a Mark Messier moment. But at the morning shootaround, Heat forward Chris Bosh all but guaranteed a victory.